Chapter Six
The Southern Isles Strikes Again
VALLOKEN
"And this is happening now?" Val asked. Immediately after he'd given his speech, he had been quietly whisked away by a couple of messengers and reunited with his sister, her secretary, Johan and a colonel called Torrein with a particularly interesting moustache. He'd then been told that Arendelle was about to be attacked.
"Their fighter jets will breach our airspace in less than eight minutes' time." Torrien reported. "Our radars picked them up just minutes ago."
"And they were cloaked?"
"Yes Sir, and it took a great deal of deciphering to figure them out."
"And this is why we need better defence systems." Val muttered under his breath. Exactly what he'd come home to do.
"Look," Talya cut in. "We need to raise all our defences, both in the sea and in the sky. Alert the public and have them ready to hide in the bomb shelters and the metro tunnels. We won't be able to save them all, but we have to try and get as many of them to safety as possible."
"Already working on it, Ma'am." Johan said. "For obvious reasons, I couldn't wait for your approval."
Talya nodded. "Of course."
"So what can we do?" Val asked.
All eyes turned to him, and he immediately realised the absurdity of his words. He wasn't living in Vjor anymore. Here, he was the damn Prince.
"Nothing, Sir." Johan said firmly. "We need you both to be safe."
"Panic room?" Val asked.
"We'll like for you to come with us." Torrien said. "We believe you both need to see what is happening."
And so, just like that, the dread of spending the evening with politicians was forgotten. They had a new threat to deal with. In a way, Val found the entire thing amusing. He'd come home expecting boredom, only for his expectations to be defied in the most preposterous way possible. A war was on the horizon. Talya and himself were led by the Prime Minister and the Colonel to the West Wing of the palace, where a room had been set up with surveillance equipment and fully stocked with the fastest processing hardware and relatively expensive tech. He hadn't even known that this place existed, and that it was right here in the palace.
"It's a separate communication branch." Talya told him as they entered the room. "The intelligence headquarters set up this room here so that we can monitor things here without having to leave the palace."
"Convenient." He looked round. Men and women in military uniforms were crammed side by side, shouting into communications devices and gesturing at their screens to their companions. No one had noticed that the Queen and the Prince were present, and even if they had, there was simply no time for pleasantries or protocol now.
"ETA?" Colonel Torrien asked one of the corporals, who was seated at one of the stations.
"Two minutes, Sir."
"Damn it." Val said in a low voice. If only he could do something, but he wasn't familiar with the operating procedures and the system that had been put in place. With all his knowledge and experience in cyber security, he felt so…helpless, unable to do anything to help.
Apparently Talya seemed to feel the same way, though she took charge of things better than he did. "Are our defences ready?" She asked Torrien.
"Yes, Ma'am. The Arendellian Royal Fleet is already standing by, ready to blow the enemy out of the sky, and we're ready to dispatch the Royal Air Force to intercept the moment the intruders breach our air space."
"Sir, they've just breached." A woman called out from nearby.
Val, along with everyone else, turned their attentions to her screen, where an aerial satellite image showed a clear picture of the intruders crossing over into Arendelle's territory. Though the intruders flew covertly, covered by darkness, the insignia on the tails of the fighter jets were clear as day.
"The Southern Isles." Talya hissed through her teeth.
"Yes, Ma'am. Unfortunately." Johan said unhappily.
"But why?" Val asked. "Didn't we already attempt to make contact with them to arrange a summit?"
"There's no reasoning with Ulrich the Seventh." Johan glanced at Talya. "I'm sorry, but I did advise you against it, Ma'am."
"I know, I know!" Talya said exasperatedly, throwing up her gloved hands. "I didn't think he would respond with a full blown invasion!" She began rubbing her hands nervously, and Val could see them trembling.
"Dispatch the Arendellian Royal Air Force." Torrien ordered. "Authorisation: Southern Fallout."
Val and Talya watched the screens of the soldiers stationed nearby, and heard the orders being relayed to dispatch the countermeasures. A moment later, they saw the fighter jets shoot off the ground, soaring into the sky like the ancient cannons that belched round shot, canister and grapeshot during the War of the Exonian Empire.
On another screen, Val saw real time surveillance footage of their naval fleet cutting through the water in perfect defensive formations, missile launchers aimed at the sky. As the Southern Isles jets drew nearer, unfazed by the appearance of a counter-force, an unheard order was given, and the ships belched fire. Fifty missiles went off, some in unison, some in successive eruptions. GPS guided missiles shot up into the air like fireworks, arching and zeroing in on their targets. Meanwhile, squadrons of Arendellian aircrafts emerged to join the battle. Air lancers, jets and strike eagles began to unleash their deadly payloads, hitting the enemy with everything they had in their arsenal. Enemy aircrafts exploded, sending debris everywhere and lighting up the night sky in a brilliant coruscation of light as bright as the sun.
Cheers erupted in the room as everyone watched the enemy jets neutralised and disintegrated one after another, while others continued to work and communicate with the Air Force and the naval fleet.
"We're winning, aren't we?" Talya asked breathlessly.
"I think we are." Johan wiped his sweaty brow.
"I'm sorry, but it appears the battle is far from over." Torrein interrupted, gesturing at a big screen. More enemy aircraft were inbound, and by the looks of it on the radar, the force they had decimated was only an advance party.
"Shit." Talya cursed under her breath.
"And that's not all." Torrein said with dread. "I'm getting word that we're picking up submarines on our radar. The Southern Isles are sending their fleet against us."
Val's heart sank. Everyone knew of the infamous Southern Isles Navy, said to be the best on the continent. They controlled the waters, the free ports and trade on this side of the world, and they had been a key player in the trade war between Molcorra and Xerflorn about seventy years ago. And most of all, they had attacked Arendelle once before during the War of the Exonian Empire. This time though, something told Val that they were more well equipped for the assault ahead.
"We're not ready for this." Torrein scrambled for one of the stations to relay a new command.
"What are we going to do?" Talya muttered, looking frantic.
Val caught her eye, but couldn't offer any help. He too, felt powerless to do anything. Unless…
Pushing past his sister, he headed straight for one of the stations, scanning his eyes across the numerous screens to find the console he was looking for. He found it, and made a beeline towards the soldier stationed behind it.
"Excuse me. I'm sorry." Val forced the man out of his way, placing his hands on the keyboard. Immediately, he felt at home, his fingers deftly going to work.
"Sir!" The soldier exclaimed, but it was too late.
Within the span of a few seconds, Val had already written a few lines of code, simple enough but effective for his purposes. "Two degrees down, about seven hundred yards out…" he did a quick mental calculation as his fingers hammered furiously against the console, churning out line after line of code as he periodically observed the radar.
"What are you doing?" Talya shouted.
"Sir!" Torrein and Johan protested in unison.
There was no time to double check his workings, but he knew that his math had never failed before, and it wasn't about to fail him now…he hoped. He hit the button to run the code, and waited, watching the screen in nervous trepidation.
A quarter of the naval fleet's missile launchers turned to face their left flank, where the Southern Isles' submarines would be approaching from the open waters. The missile launchers aimed down towards the water in unison, all angled specifically towards a target that wasn't there.
"Your Highness!" Torrein shouted in horror. "What are you doing?"
Val ignored him, checking the radars to see the positions of the submarines. The trajectory was correct.
"Submarines coming in at eight hundred yards!" A soldier called out.
"Our fleet is unguarded!"
"Not entirely." Val punched in one last line of code and hit enter.
The missile launchers aimed at the water belched fire, and the impact from the detonations sent the launchers sliding backwards on the slippery surface of the ships' decks. The missiles launched into the water like torpedos, intercepting the submarines at seven hundred yards and blowing the enemy ships to kingdom come. The blips disappeared from the radar by Val's side, and he heaved a sigh of relief.
"What-" the Colonel was astonished.
"I didn't have time to ask for permission." Val said. "I manually overrode the launch systems and calculated the submarines' trajectories based on the rate they were travelling across the radar."
"That…that was amazing." Talya said breathlessly. "I didn't know you could do that!"
"Didn't study abroad for nothing."
Talya still looked incredulous. "You may have just saved Arendelle."
"Not yet, unfortunately." Johan pointed at the wide screen at the other end of the room. The enemy aircrafts were still coming in hot, outnumbering the squadrons that Arendelle's Royal Air Force had dispatched.
"We have to send more jets! Put up a fight and stall them while the public gets to safety!" Talya protested.
"We don't have enough time. They're going to be upon us at any moment!" Torrein said through gritted teeth.
"No…" Distraught, Talya clutched her head.
Val looked on helplessly. There was no way he could commandeer and manually override the planes. And in any case, it wouldn't help. It was too late. The rest of the Southern Isles Air Force had already breached their airspace, systematically targeting and shooting down the Arendellian squadrons which were putting up as best a fight as they could.
Soon, the sounds of aircraft were thundering overhead, and with them, heavy air-lifters. Men armed with rifles began plummeting from the sky, and parachutes opened like blossoming flowers. Within minutes, the entire night sky above the kingdom was covered with descending enemy soldiers as the Southern Isles jets circled round to drop more bombs into civilian airspace.
Ships of the line and frigates began to appear in the horizon, signalling the imminent arrival of the Southern Isles fleet. It vastly outnumbered the Arendellian navy, which was by no means small, but everyone knew that fighting against the Southern Isles Navy was a lost cause.
From the palace, Val could feel the multiple detonations on land rock the ground, and he grimaced as he watched the screens. Arendelle was compromised. In spite of their best efforts, they'd been invaded.
"Sir!" A lieutenant saluted Torrein, his voice shaky. "Commandos have landed on the roof. They're attempting to invade the palace! The Valquerson Rifles are holding them off for as long as they can, but we need to evacuate!"
Colonel Torrein cursed under his breath and turned to the royal siblings. "We need to get you both out of here."
"But this-this is our home!" Talya insisted. "We can't just give it over to the Southern Isles!"
"They've already taken it." Val said grimly, watching the surveillance feeds as a soldier switched the cameras over to the ones located inside the palace. He watched as the Southern Isles Commandos, clad in full black military gear, began to exchange fire with the Valquerson Rifles which were out in full force. It was going to be a fierce firefight between the enemy commandos and Arendelle's elite unit, but something told Val that there were more commandos on the way.
"We need to move. Now, Your Majesty!" Torrein said, beckoning to Talya, and he shouted over at Val. "Your Highness!"
Johan gestured urgently for him to follow, and the small group of four emerged from the room, immediately flanked by soldiers from the Valquerson Rifles who escorted them towards the North Wing where they could make their way down to the emergency bunkers located below the palace. Just as they rounded the bend, Val's heart sank. Ahead of them stood a platoon of Southern Isles Commandos, rifles shouldered and advancing in perfect attack formation. The game was over.
Author's Commentary:
If you like action like the one in this chapter and you haven't checked out my other stories set during Elsa and Anna's prime, then you're really missing out! Do head over to my profile and read the rest of my stories set within the "Frozenverse".